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Friday, May 22, 2015

I took this photo because one of my AP students said her advice to next year's AP students was to buy a big binder, and then she showed us. I think this binder is bigger than the massive AP Book.

For the past several years I have had several AP traditions. I have had each student write advice at the end of their senior year, and I ask them to write another letter after they have finished a semester or a year of college.

I try to take a picture of the class as a whole each year, and at least one of the group telling what they think they made on their AP exam (by holding up their fingers).

We have an awards ceremony where I give one award to a student in each subject I teach. I also give individual awards to each AP kid in class. I read off the name and description of the award and let the class guess who is getting each award. I try to make all awards sound positive even if I had to stretch it ... Some examples of past awards:

Princess Aurora Award ... to the student who most resembles Sleeping Beauty (sleeps in class - and the first time I gave it was to a boy)

Curve Killer Award ... to the student who consistently has the highest score on tests.

Bonus? I don't need no stinking bonus ... to the student who completes the class with the least amount of bonus

Mr. Generous Award ... to the student most likely to donate his car to me (consistently left his keys in my room)

Ms. Cosmo ... to the student who tried to share questionable information she learned from that O-so popular magazine

I have a spread sheet with the awards I give each year. The list of awards is pretty extensive because I try to match them to each kid, and very few seem to be repeated.